Off-duty firefighter rescues 2 from drowning in submerged vehicle

"Off-Duty Fire District 3 Captain Drew Simpson was first on scene of a vehicle rollover in a ditch with water rising and running through the vehicle. He located and rescued two female occupants who were trapped in the vehicle.

Author:

www.koinlocal6.com

Date:

December 18, 2012

CLARK COUNTY, Wash. -- Firefighters responded to a one-vehicle rollover accident on Vancouver's Northeast Ward Road Monday morning. This was around 10:39 a.m.

The car landed upside down in a ditch on the side of Ward Road. Rescuers report that water was rising in the ditch and running through the vehicle.

"Off-Duty Fire District 3 Captain Drew Simpson was first on scene," Clark County Fire District No. 3 reports in a news release Monday. "He found two female occupants trapped in the vehicle."

The fire district reports that Simpson used a tool in his pickup to break the side window of the damaged vehicle and helped the occupants out to safety.

The occupants of the car were "cold and startled," but not injured, Clark County Fire reports.